Quest for Familial Peace
by Kali1
Summary: Lina goes into labor. Will her husband and friends survive the experience? Will the town? And just where are Filia and Xellos?


**_The Quest for _**_**Familial Peace**_

_**Part 1**_

_By Kali_

_Today:_

"She's pregnant!" Sylphiel whispered. Her hands clenched into little balls as she attempted to reign in her frustration and disappointment. "And you're just telling me now?!" 

"Um, well, we thought Mister Gourry was going to tell you. But, apparently......" Amelia started, twiddling her thumbs. She hated that they had made her be the one to tell Sylphiel. To break her heart. "But we thought, that you would notice, eventually." 

"I just assumed that her metabolism was finally catching up with her," Sylphiel said, hanging her head in a deep depression. Her beloved Gourry, was now firmly, and irrevocably involved with Lina Inverse, of all people. 

"Miss Sylphiel? Miss Sylphiel, are you all right?" Amelia asked the very pale young priestess, who promptly keeled over unconscious. "She's fainted!" 

Zelgadis sighed, he had been expecting it, and whipped out some smelling salt, or at least, he thought it was smelling salt. The store clerk had run off screaming 'Monster, monster!' at the very sight of him. It was days like this one, when he really loathed his appearance. Which ended up being, practically, 365 days a year. 

"Zel, what is that stuff?" Amelia asked. It had a bitter, acrid smell to it, which was making her feel woozy. 

"Smelling salt," Zelgadis answered back. 

"Zel, I don't think that's........." Amelia started. But, before she could finish, the whole world went white, and she keeled over as well. 

"Amelia? Amelia?!" Zelgadis exclaimed. Fearfully, he knelt down next to her and felt for her pulse. 

"AMELIA!" Amelia's Father screamed in anguish at the top of his lungs. He was standing in the doorway of the local pub. His big frame barely making it through the narrow passageway. 

"I wish you wouldn't do that! There is such a thing as overdoing a scream in a scene. It should be much more subtle, and not so loud, like this: Amelia!" 'Zelgadis' yelled, his voice tinged in anguish. 

"Oh, very good, I'm impressed. Been voice acting long?" 

"Yeah, well, a few years. But, anyhow, lets get back to the scene, okay?" 'Zel' pleaded. 

"Sure! Sorry about that," Phil apologized as he tried to remember what line came next. "How is she? Is she conscious?" 

"No," Zelgadis groaned. "She's just like this because she wanted to take a nice, long cat nap after lunch," he added sarcastically. 

"Oh, I thought...... Wait! That's not in the script....." 

"I'm ad-libbing." 

"Oh. What did this to her? Who? I demand an answer!" 

"I assume this, is what caused it," Zelgadis said as he held up the 'smelling salt'. 

"Zel, what are you doing with a Carpathian crystal? And just why on earth are you waving it around like that? Don't you know how toxic that thing is?!" Lina exclaimed as she waddled out of the pub as well. Anxious to see what all the commotion was about. "Well?" She asked as she took another bite out of her meatball sub sandwich. 

"Uh, well......" Zel started. Feeling more than a little embarrassed about his little shopping mistake. 

"And what are Amelia and Sylphiel doing on the ground?" Lina added, pointing at the two women laying prone on the grass. 

"Uh, well......" 

"Oh!" Lina moaned, clutching her belly. "Maybe, I shouldn't have had that last sub. Oooohhhh" 

"Lina!" Zelgadis exclaimed. "Here, let me help you! It could just be indigestion." 

With that comment, Lina's water broke. 

"Or, maybe not," Zelgadis groaned. It was too soon for her to have the baby, they weren't ready yet. He looked towards the prince for help, but noticed that Amelia's father had passed out as well. "It's just gonna be one of those days, isn't it?" Zelgadis muttered under his breath. 

"Zel?" Lina questioned. 

"It's okay, Lina. I'll take you back to your room," he commented, trying to convince himself that, just once, things would go exactly as planned. "Then I'll come back and splash some water on these three. Maybe, a whole bucketful, or two, or three." 

***************************************************************************** 

"Who's going to deliver the baby? All the doctors and midwives in town refuse to go anywhere near Lina. They think she's too dangerous to approach. And the bitter truth of it is, as of right now, she is. She might even hurt you, Amelia, in her pain-hazed state, if you try to help. So we need to find someone indestructible, or close to it." Zelgadis said. But, as soon as he finished, he saw Amelia's hopeful look. "Don't even think it. I can't do it. I won't." 

"Why not, Zel?" 

"I'm not good with babies. I scare them." 

"Oh, I don't believe that. Babies won't be scared by someone as kind and noble as you." 

"Amelia," Zel sighed. "Please, I just can't. I'll be the baby's Godfather, but please don't ask me to do this." 

"Why? Are you afraid you'll start to want one?" Amelia gazed at him, searching out his response, and praying that he would want to have children someday. 

"I'm afraid. I'm afraid, that if I hold her.......... I'm afraid that I might accidentally hurt her. I've never been around a baby before." 

"Neither have I, nor Lina and Gourry, but, we'll all learn." 

"Maybe. But, Amelia, the consequences....... If something were to go wrong, I don't think that I could live with myself." 

"Don't be silly, Mister Zelgadis! Look at Daddy! He's as strong as an ox, but, as gentle as a teddy bear." 

"True. I..... I guess, if your father could be gentle with an infant, with you and your sister. Then maybe, just maybe, I can as well." 

"That's the spirit!" Amelia beamed. 

Hearing Lina scream in agony, Zel and Amelia rushed back into Lina and Gourry's bedroom. 

"Gourry! I swear, I'm not gonna let you near me again! Ever! You hear me! EVER!!" Lina exclaimed as she threw various nearby household items at her, currently, not so beloved, husband. 

"Don't worry, Gourry, I'm told that many women say that during labor. It's the stress of the moment, the pain talking" Zelgadis assured a visibly distraught Gourry. 

At that comment, Lina hurled a bar of soap fiercely at Zelgadis. Hitting him right between the eyes. "I could be wrong, however." 

"I hope that Miss Filia and Mister Xellos have found, you know who, by now," Amelia whispered to Zel. 

"So do I, Amelia. So do I," Zel answered back in a hushed tone. 

**************************************************************************** 

_Two weeks earlier:_

"Not now, Zel!" Lina yelled, throwing a haphazard fireball at him. "My show is on!" 

Zel managed to dodge the fireball, and ducked out the door. Not wanting her to be any more riled up, he shut the door firmly behind him. "Well, that went..... Well, it could have gone better. I didn't find out any information about her sister." 

"Well, you know how she gets when she watches her show. Perhaps, we can wait until after it's over?" 

"Amelia, it's the 24-hour cooking channel. Short of pulling the plug, it isn't going to be over. 

"So, what do we do now?" 

"Gourry has to know something. Deep in the recesses of that pea sized brain of his, he must know something about Luna. It's just a matter of dragging it out to the surface." 

*************************************************************************** 

_Three days earlier:_

"Don't you see?" Luna asked the two patrons sitting at a table inside the restaurant she was gainfully employed at. 

"Nani?" Filia inquired. She and Xellos had just arrived there on their mission of mercy for Lina. Well, at least, she had, anyway. Xellos's intentions for the two sisters was anybody's guess. 

"Black and white magic can be mixed, combined, to create something better, and more potent than they are alone." 

"You're not implying that Xellos and I should.....? You must be kidding?! The magic of my fellow dragons, is a holy magic. It should never be defiled by the foul, and decrepit monster race! By black magic!" a furious Filia spouted. 

"Yet, you recruited my sister, a wielder of black magic, in order to succeed in your mission," Luna commented. A wisp of a smile crossing her lips. She regarded the dragon priestess with an insight usually undreamed of in a woman of her relatively young age. 

"Well, yes, but...... You recommended her!" Filia managed to blurt out in a defensive manner. 

"Yes, something I did, because I knew she had the power, and the ability, to handle both. Her very personality bespeaks of all that is both good and evil in all of us." 

"Huh?" Filia asked. 

"One minute, she's killing bandits, and stealing their loot. The next, she's attempting to save the world from destruction." 

"And right now, she's having a baby," Xellos chimed in. 

"Nani......?!?" Luna asked. She hadn't expected news like this. She had not spoken to Lina in a rather long time, but to think, that her sister would neglect to tell her about something like this. It was mind boggling. "She's that afraid of me?" Luna managed to ask, barely above a whisper. 

"Well, you see....... It's complicated, Miss Luna, it's......." Filia started, trying to break it as gently as possible. 

"Yup. She's stark, raving petrified of you. Cowers in fear at the mere mention of your name," Xellos answered with a smirk. 

"XELLOS!" Filia warned. 

"It's all right, Filia. I knew about it. I guess, I just didn't want to believe it. Believe that Lina had blown our sibling rivalry so out of proportion. But, it's time. It's time for familial peace. Whether she likes it, or not." 

"So, you'll be coming with us?" Filia asked. 

"Yes. Just give me a moment to give the restaurant manager some notice. Don't want to leave him hanging, without some explanation at least. Otherwise, I might not have a job to come back to." 

_**Disclaimer: **Slayers characters belong to their respective creators, whomever they may be. This fan fiction is meant as pure, harmless fun, and as such, no profit is being made from it._


End file.
